In general, a black and white silver halide photographic material is processed by the steps of developing, fixing, rinsing and drying after exposing. Recently, photographic materials are processed most commonly with an automatic developing machine. In that case, the photographic material is suitably processed in a developing solution which is stored in a developing tank of the automatic developing machine while in contact with air. It has been desired to obtain the developing solution having excellent stability when such development-processing is carried out. Further, it has been desired to reduce further the needed replenishing solution amount per a unit area. Generally, at least 330 ml of each of the developing replenisher and the fixing replenisher have been conventionally used per m.sup.2 of processed sheet-form photographic material such as an X-ray photographic material of a graphic arts photographic material.
However, since the waste liquors of the developing solutions and the fixing solutions have a high chemical oxygen demand (COD) or a high biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), the developing waste liquor and the fixing waste liquor are chemically or biochemically treated to render them harmless, and the waste liquors are then discarded. The disposal of such waste liquors is expensive. Accordingly, there is a need for a processing method which enables the replenishment rates of the developing solution and the fixing solution to be reduced even further.
Meanwhile, the use of a silver halide emulsion having a high silver chloride content (at least 90 mole % or more) is very advantageous for reducing the replenishing amount of the developing solution, because in case of silver bromide, bromine ions are released in the developing solution after developing and accumulate therein. The decrease in the amount of the replenishing solution leads to an increase in the accumulated bromine ions, increasing a development-inhibiting action, which exerts an adverse influence on photographic performance to a large extent. Meanwhile, in case of silver chloride, chlorine ions accumulate as well, but the development-inhibiting action is far smaller than with bromine ions, and no actual influence is involved. However, silver chloride is susceptible to a dissolving-physical developing action. That causes the problem of increased fog density, and room for improvement still remains.